There are two basic ways churches and institutions can participate in an investment partnership with United Methodist Foundation: through a Permanent Endowment Fund or through a Revocable Investment Agreement.
All accounts with United Methodist Foundation (both endowment funds and revocable investment accounts) participate in the respective investment option as a unit holder and thereby share all earnings and capital appreciation/depreciation on a per unit basis.
These accounts can be invested in any of our three investment fund choices.
A permanent endowment fund can be established with United Methodist Foundation as trustee. In most cases this is a permanent endowment where the principal will not be invaded, but it is possible to create a limited or restricted endowment which permits invasion of principal if so specified in the endowment agreement.
A permanent endowment fund agreement may contain restrictions or conditions which are mutually agreeable between the trustee and the creator of the endowment. For example, the agreement might address what should be done with income and/or principal should the purpose for which the endowment was created no longer exist.
While there is room for as many or as few restrictions as the creator of the permanent endowment and the trustee agree upon, once the agreement has been executed all parties are bound by the terms of the agreement.
The Foundation provides a basic working endowment draft and will work with the creator of the endowment in drawing this agreement.
A revocable investment account permits a church, institution, or organization (called Investment Partners) to participate in the investment partnership of United Methodist Foundation as a unit holder. Each investment account owns a specified number of units based upon the amount of funds in that account. When selecting to invest funds through a Revocable Investment Agreement, the Foundation serves as temporary investment manager making distributions in amounts and at such frequency as requested.
A Revocable Investment Account Agreement (form provided by the Foundation office) is used to open a revocable investment account. This agreement states how dividends are to be paid out or reinvested and gives other necessary directives for this specific amount.
Also, there are no requirements for the length of time of investment for Revocable Investment Accounts.
